Challenge setup edition 2024
The completely renewed setup for the Self Driving Challenge of 2024
The 2024 edition will take place at the RDW Test Centre in Lelystad, where teams will face six different tasks on a custom track. These tasks include starting on green traffic light, adhering to the speed limit, stopping and going at traffic lights, crossing pedestrians, overtaking manoeuvres, and parallel parking.
Edition 2024
The Self Driving Challenge is an ongoing yearly event since 2019, with the goal of gaining knowledge about complex in-car decision-making technology. Each year a goal for the challenge is set and competing student teams are tasked to develop software for their vehicle to best achieve this goal. Previous challenges included driving in a simulation environment and driving on a real race track.
The challenge will be set-out on the RDW Test Centre in Lelystad (TCL). Starting in February 2024, teams have the opportunity to analyse, record and test their project every week. On June 14th 2024, an exciting final event will be organised where all teams will demonstrate their abilities in front of a public audience and the winner of the Self Driving Challenge 2024 will be decided upon.
Teams will be able to participate in either a 'closed category' or an 'open category'. The RDW will provide the kick-off, webinars, technical information, testing-days and the final race event. The educational institutions are responsible for the necessary resources, supervision and guidance for their participating teams.
The 2024 edition of the Self Driving Challenge differs vastly from previous editions. For this years challenge, a custom track has been created at the RDW Test Centre in Lelystad, where a total of six different objectives are set out on asphalt in order of increasing expected difficulty. These objectives represent situations which autonomous vehicles would commonly find in the real-world.
Challenges
The following six unique tasks will be present in the Self Driving Challenge 2024. Note that the order of the individual tasks given below is not yet determined. Once the challenge starts, the order will be definite and all tasks will need to be solved in the given order. Teams will try to get as far as they can, dealing with the various traffic situations on their way. The road will contain straight and curved sections and parts with one and two lanes. The vehicle should adequately deal with all these factors during the entire drive.
1. Start on green traffic light
The vehicle starts in a standstill, positioned in front of a traffic light. The first objective is to detect the green light status of this traffic light with, for example, the front-facing camera’s. Once the traffic light has turned green, the vehicle may start driving.
2. Adhere to the speed limit
Traffic signs indicating speed limits will be placed amongst the course of the track. Multiple different signs may be present. The vehicle should adhere to these limits, until a new speed-limit is given.
3. Traffic light stop and go
A red traffic light with a 'stop-line' will be present on the track. The vehicle approaching the traffic light will need to stop at an adequate location in front of the traffic light, and wait for a green sign to continue driving.
4. Pedestrian crossing
A pedestrian may be waiting on the side of a zebra crossing. The approaching vehicle will need to detect the presence of a waiting pedestrian, wait for them to cross and then continue its journey once the zebra crossing is cleared. A combination of camera's and the LiDAR sensor may, for example, be used to complete this task.
5. Overtaking manoeuvre
A real-life sized 'balloon-vehicle' - identical to the props used in safety testing - will be present in the lane of the vehicle. It will not be moving. The approaching vehicle will need to plan and execute an overtaking manoeuvre by changing lanes, passing the balloon-vehicle and then returning to its original lane, and continue driving.
6. Parallel parking objective
To finish the parkour, the vehicle will need to perform a parallel parking manoeuvre. It will need to park itself in a parking spot surrounded by barriers. To complete this task, the vehicle may, for example, need to combine its camera's, LiDAR sensor and advanced path planning.